Elon Musk's online platform X has sparked major anger after individuals employed its AI chatbot Grok to change images of women by removing their attire.
Multiple instances have been seen where the tool has been used to remove clothing from female subjects to render them in swimwear non-consensually, as well as to insert them in sexualized scenarios.
Developer Reaction and Regulatory Stance
XAI, the organization that created Grok, offered no comment to inquiries, except for an standard response stating "traditional news outlets lies".
A government official stated that legislation is being introduced to outlaw nudification software. Under a new criminal offence, anyone who supplied such tools would "face a jail term and significant penalties".
"The platform is capable of halting these types of misuse if they chose to," said Clare McGlynn, adding they "appear to enjoy a lack of consequences."
Oversight Body Stance and Tool Functionality
The regulator Ofcom said platforms must "evaluate the danger" of people accessing unlawful material on their services, but did not specify whether it was currently examining X or Grok in relation to artificial intelligence pictures.
Grok is a no-cost chatbot—with some premium features—which responds to X users' requests when they tag it in a message.
It is often used to give reactions or additional background to other posters' comments, but people on X are also can modify an posted photo through its artificial intelligence picture modification feature.
History of Criticism and Rules
The system has been criticised for allowing users to generate images and clips with nudity and sexually suggestive material, and it was previously accused of generating sexually explicit content of public figures.
"The platform has been allowing the creation and distribution of these images for a long time without taking any steps and we have not seen any challenge by regulators," Professor McGlynn added.
XAI's own acceptable use policy forbids "portraying likenesses of persons in a pornographic way".
In a statement, Ofcom said it was illegal to "make or circulate deepfakes or child sexual abuse material" and confirmed this applied to explicit AI images made with AI.
It said services such as X were mandated to take "suitable actions" to "minimize the risk" of users coming across illegal content on their services and to delete it promptly when they are notified of it.
